Fantastic, as usual, Euan! Enquiring minds are going to want to know whether you grow them in the ground or pots, what part of the country you live in & what you do with them in the winter....oh, and cultivar names! Very nice job.
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
Euan,
I've been using a version of your mix but I can't find Kelp meal. I've been using the bone and blood meal and epsom salt, and lately, I've been experimenting with bone meal, milorganite and epsom salt, with good results but my leaves still don't look great, could be the heat and wet conditions here.
Where do you find kelp meal, what size bags does it come in and about how much does it cost? What proportions do you use when you mix them together? How much do you apply to each brug? Do you spread it on top of the soil and water it in or do you dig it in around the drip line of the brug?
Michele
Jacksonville, Fl
Zone 9a
Nature, in order to be commanded must be obeyed. Sir Francis Bacon
This message has been edited by michelejaxfl on Sep 13, 2006 7:43 AM This message has been edited by michelejaxfl on Sep 13, 2006 7:40 AM
All good questions, Michele - I am awaiting the answers with you. I would really like to experiment with this on a few brugs to see if it does better for me. Euan, I know you have posted before, but I cannot remember which part of the country you reside in - was it NY?
WOW!
I am also watching this post to see if he will divulge his organic recipe. Love to see that some one is producing such nice results with organics. Eventually I will get there because I am not going to buy more Miracle grow after my garage cupboard is empty. I find you can be more lazy with organics, since it takes fewer applications of materials.
Jill
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9a
Sunset Zone 24
AHS Heat Zone: 6,7,8
Inland San Diego,Calif
I'd like to know as well.
Euan, how much of each, bone, blood, and kelp go into your mixture, and how much of the mixture do you give to each Brug?
By the way, this is funny, great way of putting it, "no special skills involved, just throw some seaweed and dead cow parts on the garden and water."
That's a quote from Euan, October of 2005.
Lynne
USDA Zone 9b
Heat Zone 10
Bradenton, Florida
after so many years i simply do it by eye now. to be conservative i'll have to say about one pound per plant each on the initial planting, a little more per plant each feeding later in the season. that being a pound of blood, bone and kelp ( or foliage feed with kelp extract ) meals each. the blood meal i use is 20% N, the bone is 14% P and the kelp is irrc 4% K.
for the last few years i've use a kelp liquid extract from an organic farm supplier, it cost $50 a gallon shipped. i go thru two gallons a year and foliage feed with it. kelp meal/extract should be sold at any organic farm feed supplier, just try to google it and find a local retailer.
i use about 5-10 times the recommended amounts, during the second and third feedings i'll up the P a tad.
i go thru about 80-100 lbs of each blood/bone a season.
July
you can see how much blood and bone i use, garden '05.
Aug
i never fed this bed in aug
it will get stinky for a few days after, so i'll put a thin layer of peat moss over the garden after i gently rake the meals into the top few inches of soil.
Sept
July
AUG
no secrets to be found, this is just "old school" gardening, ask any old-timer...
Has anyone used dried cow manure? I made a manure tea out of it one year and watered my plants with it. After awhile it just got to be a big pain, so I dumped what was left of the dried cow manure (it had been steeped in water for several months) on to my Miami Orange Glow. I've haven't put anything else on it since and it stays nice and green and blooms.
I know dried cow manure is a very hot fertilizer, but I'm wondering if it would be a good organic fertilizer to try on brugs.
Michele
Jacksonville, Fl
Zone 9a
Nature, in order to be commanded must be obeyed. Sir Francis Bacon
Michele, I don't think cow manure is especially "hot" if it's been aged at least 6 months before application. I had peonies that were performing poorly...not many flowers and those were small. The next year I applied composted steer/cow manure thru their bed as soon as they began to emerge...I got a great show out of them!
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
Patrick,
This is called Dehydrated Cow Manure and it comes in a bag, it is not composted. Believe me it is very hot, I killed a rose bush using it. It is supposed to be used very sparingly. I was just thinking that it might work well for brugs if it was mixed with the soil at the drip line.
Michele
Jacksonville, Fl
Zone 9a
Nature, in order to be commanded must be obeyed. Sir Francis Bacon
That's interesting, Michele. I haven't seen it in my garden centers (altho I haven't been checking out the bagged manures, etc.). Sounds like you might want to experiment carefully!
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
I collect dried 'cow manure'from the farm, put it in a large plastic barrel with a spigot,then add water to make a 'manure tea. Approx. two weeks later I use it to fertize all my plants here. I don't use anything else to fertilize my entire garden, veggies and all.
This message has been edited by costaricafinca on Sep 19, 2006 2:26 PM
Euan, I like the "old timer" approach to fertilizing. Surely seems less taxing and you certainly are getting results....loved your photos.
Patricia, your "manure tea" idea sounds good, too. Have heard of it but never tried it. I have access to dried horse manure which should work. for all organic ideas in this post.
for all organic ideas in this post.